Thousands of migrants from the “Bimaru” region working in the fields of western Uttar Pradesh as farm labourers are no exception, but there exist a class of workers hailing from Munger in Bihar, who stand-out as odd among them as they have dexterity in manufacturing illegal fire-arms.
Many of them are manufacturing it since generations and are working in illegally run fire-arms factories spread in the area. These arms manufactured in the western UP (like Meerut), cater to the demand of these weapons in Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP and as far as Nepal.
The Government owned British-era gun factory in Munger was shut down four decades ago and left hundreds of workers unemployed. Faced with the challenge to eke out a living, they took to arms manufacturing in illegal units as they knew no other work.
Further, the art of arm manufacturing has been not only “preserved” by this class of workers but have been transferred to their next generations. Apart from the long history, Munger gun manufacturers also helped armed forces during the First World War. The Indian Government after Independence in 1947 granted licences to 36 small-scale industries to produce firearms. When the India-China war broke out in 1962, the Munger Gun Factory supplied samples of 410 bore Muscat to the Defence Ministry.
Recently, in August, Delhi Police Special Cell had busted an inter-state gang running a gun factory in Meerut. In simultaneous raids carried out in Delhi and Meerut by the Special Cell sleuths, five people were arrested and an illegal factory of sophisticated country-made guns was busted. It led to the recovery of 85 semi-automatic pistols, three persons who used to manufacturer illegal weapon in this factory were brought especially from Munger.
Talking to The Pioneer, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Special Cell said after several illegal factories were cracked down in Munger, the illegal arms manufacturer have shifted their base from Munger to Western UP especially in cities like Meerut and adjoining areas.
“There is demand of these illegal weapons Delhi and adjoining areas. So these illegal arms manufacturer for ease in supply have set up their factories in UP and even they have hired skilled labourers from Munger to make illegal weapons,” said the DCP.
“After authorities clamped down in Munger, it had become hard for the dealers to deal in illegal weapons and then supply it to the buyers in Delhi. Now the raw material is brought from Munger and weapons are built here in UP,” said the DCP.
According to senior police official, till September 30 they have arrested 1,444 people carrying illegal weapons. “Police have seized 1,243 illegal weapons with 5,577 live cartridges from the possession of criminals arrested,” the senior police official added.
According to sources in the Delhi Police, earlier Munger and Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone were two top centres from where these guns came in bulk to Delhi-NCR.
“In the British era these two districts had ordnance factories which shut down later. The residents in these districts to earn for their livelihood started illegal business with making country made pistols and became popular for ‘Desi Katta’ or “Tamanchas’. Now they can even make duplicate copies of modern rifles such as AK-47 and other branded weapons,” said the source.
“These illegal arms manufacturers have built their factories either in forest area or residential complexes where it is difficult to locate such activity. Most of the people arrested with illegal farms during interrogation have revealed about the illegal arms suppliers buying weapons from Uttar Pradesh,” said the senior police official.